A gunman assassinated an opposition lawmaker and one other person at a New Year religious service near Sri Lanka's capital yesterday, and the lawmaker's party held the government responsible for his slaying.
The attacker opened fire at ethnic Tamil lawmaker Thyagaraja Maheswaran of the opposition United National Party (UNP) at a Hindu temple near Colombo, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The lawmaker and one other person died after they were admitted to Colombo National Hospital, the hospital's medical director Hector Weerasinghe said. Nine other people were wounded and were being treated at the hospital, he said.
No one has been arrested for the attack, and police declined to give other details.
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake held the government responsible for Maheswaran's assassination because it had recently reduced the number of security personnel assigned for his protection from 10 to two, after the lawmaker spoke out against the government's alleged misdeeds.
"He spoke about corruption, malpractices, abductions, unlawful killings and blamed government for not taking effective measures to stop them," Attanayake said.
There was no immediate comment from the government.
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